Weave 4

                                                            Weave 4
                         Beeswax and natural pigment on Papel de Amate
                                                            16" x 24"
                                                               2010

WebGround 3

WebGround 3 is the latest piece from the WebGround Series. There is greater definition than in 1 and 2 between the intensity of the red layered onto the grid of the Papel de Amate and the violets, blues, greens, yellows and oranges within the "windows painted on the lower relief created by 

mounting the Papel de Amate upon the Khadi paper. The grid implies the connecting between all that is. Within the windows representing the individuality and contrasting aspects of each that is; couple relationships, global communities and the inner dynamic of each of us. It can represent philosophies, politics, and non human entities; bears or mollusks, or the inanimate and immaterial mountains, or the oceans and the streams , or the philosophies and the politics.

Weave 1 and Weave 2

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Weave 1

Weave 2

Weave 1 & Weave 2 are beeswax and natural pigment on 16" x 24" Papel de Amate.

WebGround Series

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WeaveGround 1 and WeaveGround 2 are the first two pieces from a new series I'm working on. I'll be posting WeaveGround 3 tomorrow. I construct the surface by wheat pasting the Atomi paper to Khadi paper. Khadi is handmade in the Khadi region of southern India from recycled cotton rags by a family of papermakers. The overlay creates a grid like relief. In over layering the colors onto the surface its finished overall color pattern begins to develop as a natural progression. In the final process I draw the colors together  with a sharpened bone and finally burnishing with a soft cloth. These beeswax and natural pigment paintings are 16" x 24".

Papel de Amate is prepared by the Atomi people in Hildago Mexico. They pound strips of Ficus sp and "lattice" them together. The vertical strips laying over the horizontals in this photo. It isn't woven. Assembled wet so a lot of the junctures are loosely bound by the lignan content. The outer edging provides most of the structure to it. As I work on it many of the junctures come apart and I re - adhere them with beeswax in the Weave Series. The borders have not separated from the verticals/horizontals in the 4 I've done.

Papel de Amate by Atomi peoples

Have just connected with a new friend who visits with the Atomi peoples in Mexico. A paper, Papel de Amate, I'm using in recent Weave and WeaveGround Series is made by them. The Otami, or Atomi as she spells it, don't have a written language so the spelling is at the verge of birth I guess. What an amazing space to be in. Should they even be encouraged to develop one. What occurs with their day to day culture as they do. We take so much for granted. Their culture has never been exposed to alcohol or tobacco. My friend has been in many third world cultures and she tells me she has never experienced such love. John Lennon "Imagine" comes to my mind. Did he write that down or did he just start singing it?!